16. my artist's prayer

Week 4 of reading The Artist's Way

A quick intro

I’ve been reading Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. A quick synopsis if you haven’t heard of it:

The Artist’s Way is book covering a twelve week program for “recovering artists”. Each chapter/week Cameron shares her thoughts on the topic at hand (topics like identity or integrity), and ends the chapter with around 10 or so writing prompts or tasks for you to do over the next week. The Artist’s Way is also where weekly Artist Dates and daily Morning Pages came from, if you’ve heard either of those terms floating around.

I’m in week four and so far have found it to be an overall good experience. I’ve never finished a book like this, that was supposed to be read over a long period of time, with tasks to do in between readings. The short chapters and variety of prompts and tasks each week has made coming back to the book each week pretty easy and enjoyable.

The task

One of the tasks from last week’s reading was to write your own version of an Artist’s Prayer, a text included at the end of the book. If you aren’t a religious person, don’t let the mention of prayer turn you away. Cameron talks about God quite a bit, but is also clear that she doesn’t need you to believe in her Christian God. She does assume belief in some greater entity though. I addressed mine to a “wonderful giver”, which in my mind is the unfathomable life force/energy source of the universe.

I found this exercise to be an opportunity to explore what it is I want from the universe, and what it is I want to give the universe. Looking at what I wrote, it seems that I’m craving openness, release, connection through sharing the good and the bad, and I’m wanting to contribute beauty, love, and peace to the world. If you were to write an artist’s prayer, what is it you’re seeking and wanting to contribute in this season of your life?

My artist’s prayer

Hello wonderful giver,

We are here
opening ourselves to you.

We open our hearts
to release our fears
and our prejudices.

We open our hands
to share your generosity,
to share our communal burdens,
and to release that which we hold
too tight.

We open our minds
for your creativity to flow
through us.

We open our eyes to witness
the beauty you gave the world—
the simple and complex.

We open our lives to you
for you to use our energy
and skills to bring beauty,
love, and peace to the world.

✌🏽+💗,
SJ

instagram: @themostawful
youtube: SJ’s Screen

This is the 16th newsletter I’ve sent out! Which means I get to reward myself with a little treat. I helped my husband with setting up lighting equipment for an event this past weekend, and I wore a pair of work gloves my in-laws gifted me. I realized how wearing gloves helped serve as a sign of being in work mode and a tool for doing better work. So! I’m buying myself a pair of typing gloves, or maybe a drawing glove that prevents palm/extra touching. Or maybe both!